The Illusion of Light

Andrew Enock

To master the illusion of light within a painting, is to also have mastered the ability to truly observe and retain the sights that you are seeing. An artist can do their best to mimic the intangibility of light, but the true amazement of light in artwork lays somewhere else in its composition.

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Lake

Sophie Kessler

They sat together by the lake.

Anyone would have thought they were siblings, with dark hair and dark eyes and the comfortable atmosphere around them. He held a guitar, his arm draped casually over the side, and he plucked at the strings as they talked.

She loved the sound of the guitar. She always had liked it, but it was like one day she had woken up with a new passion for it. She had been hanging out with him more, and his friends, and ever since then she had been surrounded by the beautiful twang of the instrument

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The Girl Behind the Wheelchair

Jocelene Ramnanan

When I was younger I dreamed about playing on my school's basketball team. I longed for the day where I could score my first goal. I wanted the feeling of adrenaline rushing through my body as I made the winning goal, I wanted to hear the voices of my teammates cheering me on. I admired that the players on that team could just let go and just play basketball they did not need to worry about their circumstances in that moment but they were able to let go. I vividly imagine myself playing on the court,

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The U.S. and the West’s position in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the implications of the conflict for the future.

Weyman Cohen

A myriad of background knowledge is required to fully understand the beyond-complicated conflict taking place in the old-world.  In the Middle East, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is spreading faster throughout the region every day.  ISIS has strongholds in vast territories of Iraq and Syria, where the group originated.  ISIS aims to spread their version of Sunni-Islam across the world.  Their primary targets are Shia-Islamic governments in the Middle East (which are most of the Arab governments).  

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Me and Cat!

Tom Ellenson 

In 2013, my dad suggested I should try acting. He found a theater group for me, when he started a conversation with a host at a restaurant. The host named Diaka told him about Creative Arts Team and now I was about to enter my first acting class. So many thoughts went through my mind: I didn’t know if I could do it. How can I act if I am in a wheelchair and can't talk? I had a knot in my stomach. I was so nervous and excited. In the end, I loved it so much. I was in two shows by CAT.

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Woman

Bette Scher

Sometimes, I’m afraid to look in the mirror.

                                 For consequence of what I might find, or not.

I would unearth the reminiscence of a murky night,

wreaking havoc on a wanton city

with friends who are long gone.

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To Hold on to the Light

Bill Fitzgerald

The hills slope steadily across our distant horizon, a washed out greenery fading into the pale blue sky. Between the bluery and where I sit there is a plane of flat light green high grass dotted with acacia trees. It seems empty but we know better. Seven lionesses that we saw hanging like fruit from a great Marula tree earlier today are most likely on the prowl, dipping beneath the grass preparing to pounce. A dotted hyena slinks it’s way among the river, waiting for a baby zebra or impala to wander to the edges of the stream to drink.

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جميل

Bill Fitzgerald

The F train rushes into the station. I step on. It's the early morning, and the sun has just slipped  above the Manhattan skyline, looming just across the water from my house on Roosevelt Island.   The train quickens and I begin my favorite ritual of the early morning. I sit down, place one ear against the window sill, sprawl my legs out, and try to attain every ounce of shut eye that I can get.  

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The Battle of Belleau

Bill Fitzgerald  

The camp is quiet. A long trek to the site and then an evening of drink had left the men in a fugue state. They staggered to the edges of the Marne and washed out, the river flowing steadily down the hillside and cooling them down. They then fell asleep on its banks under the stars. A few soldiers were on the edge of the wood, taking the night shift, staring out of the greenery of the hillside where the Marine division had set up camp.  Morris stood alone at the edge of the forest.

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